Rose Slug Control: How to Get Rid of Rose Slugs

This page is an expert guide on getting rid of rose slug off your property using the products and methods suggested by our experienced pest control specialists. Follow this guide and use the recommended products and you will eliminate rose slugs, guaranteed.

If you have a garden or flower bed and notice holes in your rose leaves, it is likely that you have rose slugs. Despite their name, rose slugs aren't a slug at all and are more closely related to caterpillars. Rose slugs like to feed on the leaves of rose shrubs, so if you are growing roses, your flowers could be at risk.

Rose slugs are a prominent issue that pops up in mid to late summer. Oftentimes, the damage done to the rose leaves are mistaken for a disease or some other issue because the rose slug is not seen. This is usually due to the rose slug being very tiny and green so it can blend into the leaf and go unnoticed. These bugs can kill your rose bush if you do not intervene.

If you are dealing with a rose slug infestation and damage to your roses, read on to find out what kills rose slugs and what you should do to get rid of the pest.

Identification

Before you can carry out a treatment plan, you need to be sure that you are dealing with Rose Slugs and not some other pest. Misidentification can lead to using the wrong treatment methods, costing you time and money. Here are some traits to look out for in order to recognize rose slugs.

• There are three types of rose slug: one is a yellowish-green larvae with a brown head, the other is a green colored larvae with bristles on its body, while the third is curled up slug that coils behind the leaves.
• They are very small in size ranging from a 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch in length max.
• These larvae are the early lifecycle stage of plants eating wasps called Sawflies.
• These slugs stay on the underside of the leaves.

Inspection

Once you have confirmed that you are dealing with rose slugs, you can proceed with inspection. In this phase, you will need to observe the areas where you have noticed where rose slugs are active as these areas are where you will focus your treatment applications.

Where To Look

Focus your search in areas where your garden plants, flowers and vegetation are in your yard.

Rose slugs chew off the leaves of the rose and cause defoliation of the rose plants and decay on the foliage of the leaves. The curled up rose slugs curl up into a coil under the leaves and chew holes into the rose leaves, removing the soft tissue of the leaves which results in the leaf looking scorched and brown. 

What To Look For

You're going to be looking for plant damage and holes in your rose leaves. These are going to look like large holes that go through the leaf or little brown spots that look like a plant disease but is actually the tiny underdeveloped rose slugs that are too small to eat all the way through the leaf.

Treatment

By far the single most effective method of dealing with damaging rose slugs destroying your plants is insecticide. The trick is to use products that are effective in killing rose slugs but also can be safely sprayed on plant life without harming the plants. This is why our experts recommend Dominion 2L.

Step 1 - Apply Dominion 2L Insecticide

Dominion 2L insecticide that contains the active ingredient imidacloprid which is known to be lethal to insects like rose slugs while also being easy on plants. It also works systemically meaning it can be applied to the soil and be taken up into the root system of the plant to protect against the plant against rose slugs. You can safely spray around your garden, lawn, flowerbeds and trees without an issue.

For soil treatments, start by mixing 0.46 to 0.6 fl. oz. of Dominion 2L in a sprayer with 1 to 2 gallons of water and apply as a broadcast treatment and mix into the soil. As a foliar application, mix 1.5 oz. per 100 gals of water in a sprayer of your choice and then apply to your rose bushes, flower beds and garden plants using a fan spray nozzle setting, making sure to also get the underside of the leaves since that is where rose slugs like to hide. Spray Dominion 2L every 2 to 3 months for continued control.

Prevention

To keep rose slugs away from your flowers and garden, a quarterly preventative treatment of Dominion 2L will suffice. Aside from this, we also have a few additional tips.

Picking the rose slugs

Use tweezers or some other device and wear gloves while plucking or picking the larvae out of the rose leaves and dispose of them in solution of insecticidal soap.  This will curb the infestation of the rose slugs and limit the damage that will be caused to your rose plants.

Water hosing the rose slugs

Use a water hose over the rose plants. Use the valve with pressure and open the water hose and wash away the rose slugs. The pressure of the water will let the slugs fall off the leaves. You can pick them and spray insecticidal soap over the slug to dehydrate and kill them. The pressure of the water will also kill a few of the slugs. Use 3 tablespoons of insecticidal soap with 1 quart of water and spray it direct on the rose slugs that have fallen down. It will kill the larva immediately and control the infestation on the rose plants. A bug blaster can be used, it is a special device that creates a wall of water and the jet of water comes with pressure eradicating the rose slugs from the leaves.

Tending to the roses

Keep the roses fresh and clean. Make sure to prune and remove all decayed leaves surrounding the rose plants itself. The removal of decayed leaves will ward away the rose slugs. Taking care of the soil, applying fertilizer and other treatments that roses need will keep the sawflies away.

Key Takeaways

What are Rose Slugs?

• Rose slugs are the larvae of sawflies and are known to have a big appetite for rose leaves in gardens and flowerbeds and can do a lot of damage if there is no intervention.

How to Get Rid of Rose Slugs

• We recommend spraying Dominion 2L on your plants and in your garden soil to kill rose slugs and end the infestation. Apply as needed until you no longer notice Rose slug activity.

Preventing Rose Slug Reinfestation

• To prevent rose slug re-infestation, spray Dominion 2L every 2 or 3 months for continued protection and control and tend to your rose garden regularly.